Driver ejection,NHRA cover up at St. Louis

[1347]

Originally Posted by Speer Drag Racing

The ruling was excessive braking. If you took 2 minutes to go back and look at the video that D3TV now thankfully gives us, you can see he was well past the finish line and his story backs the case of putting it in Reverse. I would imagine the DD would have had access to this video since even I was able to rewind and watch it immediately after it happened. With championships on the line it seems to me an immediate DQ should have adequate evidence. Now if you are DQ'ing him for making a mistake and then threatening a year suspension you are opening a huge can of worms. Do you DQ someone for not tightening up the front end and doing an uncontrollable wheelie if they don't cross the center line? They made a mistake on an adjustment that could have potentially put the other racer in danger if they would have crossed. We all make mistakes and we all know racing has it's dangers and as many people here have pointed out there were a lot of "what-ifs" but where is the line that someone has subjective control of the outcome of a race? From the sounds of some of these responses I am sure glad some of you are not DD's!

"Anytime it has been judged that excessive braking has resulted in loss of control that results in contact with the guardwall and/or light fixtures or crossing the center boundary lines, INCLUDING PAST THE FINISH LINE, the contestant will be disqualified"

It's a shame he was ejected, and yes, after explanation of what happened there is no reason to believe hes not lying, but put yourself in the DD's spot. Do you think everyone who has ever been ejected for excessive braking said " OK " and not had an excuse or a story on why or how it happened? I am not sure if "instant replay " is something that has been used in the past to reverse a call in Sportsman racing, and if it does get used, is it fair that not every race has video rolling for every minute of racing. Also the" championship on the line" could apply the first round of the first race of the year if you could able to look at a crystal ball 6 months later. No one can say by looking at that video that the story given is what happened. The video is from behind, and you cant see the rear tires going backwards.Yes maybe if you have a big enough screen with good resolution, but is that what we are expecting at every race? to call up in the booth like an NFL game for a review? Most Stock and SS racers feel tech is getting less and less, but we want them to ramp up this? I think the call made for the circumstance was made to fit the rule since it states that the infraction can be made even after the finish line. I wonder how many people would be debating this if the cars got together due to this unfortunate mistake.

Dave Leclaire ruined his original RO23 hemi car doing the same thing, he wasn't ejected because he lost or it was a qualifying run, but he will never make that mistake again, and corrected the ability to make that mistake. I'm glad no one was hurt, no cars were wrecked, and he can race another day.

[Bruce Kastle]

Just a final thought , and I'm done. Just watched the video for the first time, yes it looked bad, but I would venture to say that there is no driver out there that could have regained control and kept the car going straight and out of the wall, any quicker as he did.
I wish you all, good health and a joyful off season.